Elizabeth Austin

Years ago, Dr. Jean Houston introduced me to the Four Levels. The Four Levels concept has become the single most useful framework in my personal growth as well as in my work as a coach and patient advocate.

Decades of research have found that all human beings contain inner realms of great range, variety and depth. In them reside the potential for reweaving mind and body. Knowledge and experience of these levels brings a new order of intelligence and insight that adds to one’s capacity to deal with life’s issues. Briefly, the Four Levels are:

Sensory/Physical: This level embraces the physical aspects of our own body: sight, smell, touch, hearing, taste.

Psychological/Personal History: Here reside the emotions and inner workings that make creativity central to our lives, and provide the opportunity to tap our own talents and gifts.

Mythic/Symbolic: Each of us is the living connection between the great stories of all times and places and the playing out of these stories in everyday life. Seeing and understanding our stories gives us access to a whole new range of possibilities.

Unitive/Integral Level: The deepest level of our development. All over the world, in many times and places there are traditions which hold that each human being contains a center or an inner essence, a link to the origin of the Universe and indeed to the entire Universe itself, that can be nurtured into a fully matured expression of itself. This state of existence has many names, such as True Self, Higher Being, the Divine, Spirituality, or Destiny.

Stay tuned for ways to develop the levels to enhance your health and wellbeing!